Visiting Rules
by legendarytobes
Summary: Set in the "family verse" or my Chlarkex OT3 set up where Clark, Chloe, and Lex are raising their respective mix of kids and clones together. Here, Chloe realizes that just dropping by Jonathan's dorm at Met U is a terrible idea and Lex comforts her.


**Visiting Rules**

Chloe sighed and knocked again on Jonathan's door. Technically, she hadn't cleared visiting Met U with him for today. Granted, she knew his schedule and knew that he was free in the afternoons on Thursdays. She'd been lucky enough to get her copy on a robbery in the Slums (not one that Clark actually had stopped this time), and thought her son might want to grab lunch with her. After all, he was so busy in Metropolis that they rarely saw him. He came home about once a month-when he was gracious enough to drive down on a lazy Sunday. It wasn't as if her boy sped. He'd stopped using any of his powers, period, in the last six months.

Well, the ones he could control. He was no better at flying than his father had been at that age, and he floated in his sleep. Lex had used his family's influence and his own position as a trustee at the college to make sure that Jonathan was guaranteed his own room for the next four years.

There was just no way to explain it to a roommate.

Still, except for the things he couldn't control, and he had yet to get the breath or the microscopic vision at all yet, Jonathan didn't do anything Kryptonian. She and Lex weren't thrilled with that act of rebellion because it wounded Clark. He never complained about it, never even asked Jonathan about it anymore. Still, every month when Jonathan showed up at either the mansion or the farm via car, she noticed the way her husband's face fell. Lex always pointed out the way Clark's shoulders slumped and he folded even more on himself when the girls and he would throw around the football, powers included, and Jonathan would abstain.

He apparently had no problem if it was only "like normal."

Chloe had never cared about sports, and Jonathan never really had either, but her girls loved anything that gave them an excuse to run around. Even if, at ten and eight, Lily and Mori didn't crash into anything anymore, they just loved the speed, loved the farm or the massive acreage around the mansion because it gave them more room to be themselves.

Anyway, she knocked again and pulled out her cell. It was a little past one, and she probably should have texted first, but the campus was only a few blocks from the Planet. It wasn't a total loss. Still, she decided she'd text him since he wasn't in and see where she could go from there.

 _Hey, finished early for once and stopped by your dorm. Would you like lunch?_

Shaking her head, Chloe eased through the throng of students and found the nearest common room. It had huge sofas she practically sank down into and a TV that was a model that probably was available to own back when _she_ was in college and that seemed to show people as awfully orange onscreen. She couldn't even pretend to know which reality show it was that a collection of guys were watching. A few more were making a lot of noise, shouting and egging each other on by a cracked foosball table.

Her phone buzzed as she sat down and Chloe smirked at the reply:

 _Sure, finishing n lib, be there soon_

As if it would hurt to add a few more letters. As she set her phone back in her purse. There was no doubt in her mind that, even if he didn't want to, Jonathan would find her easily. Like the floating, the hearing wasn't necessarily easy for him to control, and he often honed in on her heartbeat and, to a lesser extent, Clark or Lex's when he was nervous. If he couldn't find her right away at his door, he'd hone in on her heart in no time.

"Hey, are you a freshman?"

Chloe frowned back over her left shoulder. Sitting down next to her was a kid maybe a year or two older than her son. He had sandy blond hair that reminded her a bit of Oliver or A.C. but a broad, lanky build. He was wearing a light coral golf shirt, complete with the requisite popped collar.

She hesitated, not sure at first what to say. It had been obvious for a long time that she wasn't aging. After all, she was in her mid-forties and she knew she looked as old as she did bout the time Doomsday rose. It just was as it was. She, Clark, and Lex via supreme irony (and a lot of meteor rocks in some cases) were just preserved like that, guaranteed to both be around for a long time to come as well as to be young for centuries. Honestly, she tried not to think about it. At work, she wore some basic theatrical make up to help with the illusion, the right shading for her and Clark both to make it look like the expected worry lines had spread already. She'd taken it off on the subway over from the Planet.

Still, she didn't think that saying "Well, actually, I'm waiting for my son who _is_ a freshman" was smart for them or their always tenuous cover.

Instead, she shrugged. "I'm not a student here. I actually, uh, intern at the Planet and I'm waiting for my friend, Jonathan Kent, to meet up with me."

"Is he a good friend?"

Chloe narrowed her eyes a little. Was this kid for real? "We've known each other practically his whole life but, no, it's definitely _not_ like that."

"Great, I mean, then tell me more about yourself, Chloe. I can already tell you're beautiful."

"I'm just waiting," she said, pulling out her phone to sort through some emails. Maybe Casanova over here would get the hint.

Of course, he didn't.

"You know," he said, leaning close enough into her personal bubble that Chloe was tempted to show him exactly what a League member could do to bone, he kept talking. "Well, I'm the social chair for Sigma Tau and our mixer is this Friday. If you lose the business suit but keep those pumps? Well, I'd love to take you."

Chloe rolled her eyes and held up her left hand. "This shouldn't be necessary but you're slow on the uptake. I'm married."

Actually, she was taken basically twice over between her interesting arrangement with both Lex and Clark, but that was no one's business but theirs and she didn't want to explain it. The fact she'd said no and stopped paying attention to him should be enough of a clue.

He shied back the way Clark did from Kryptonite then, and his eyes were the size of damn hubcaps.

"I get it. You're one of those religious chicks, out from a Cowtown a few hours from here. Married the high school sweetheart and probably skipped college and into jobs. Okay then."

"Sure, we'll go with that," she said, putting her hand down and checking her texts. The library couldn't be that far, could it? "Then see nothing left to talk about."

 _Please don't tempt me; you won't like traction_.

"Shame if you ever get tired of the farmer type, I can show you around the big city, sweetheart."

Chloe snorted. She'd known the ins and out of Metropolis since she was about seven and when her mom and dad took her all over the city. She'd known more about Metropolis than this kid ever will. Besides, after thirty plus years, she was pretty sure she wasn't growing out of the "farmer type" any time soon. Although, to be fair, there was something to be said for sometimes menacing bald billionaires too. She was nothing if not eclectic.

However, frat douche was beyond barking up the wrong damn tree.

"That would be great. I'll pencil that in before having all my fingernails ripped out but after my skin being filed by sand paper. I'm _not_ interested."

"Bitch," he said, finally taking the anvils' worth of hints she'd given him and heading over the foosball match.

Chloe found herself lost in some advice on a coming series she was pitching from Perry. Finally, she felt a familiar tap on her shoulder. "Hi, sweetie," she said, smiling warmly up at her son.

When he'd been young, he'd been toe-headed, as bright blond as she ever had been (she'd starting dyeing it once it went brown in middle school). That had made them all assume that he was Oliver's as much as hers. It was later as both his hair changed to almost black and his strength came along, that _all_ of them figured out he was clearly someone else's son.

Chloe would always be furious with Zatanna for what she'd done, for drugging her and Clark. It was wrong, and it was hurtful to all of them. Yes, it had worked out for the far better now, as both she and Clark _and_ Tess, such as she was as an embodiment of Watchtower, and Emil were happy together. All that had started from mischief on the champagne. But it was still dangerous to have robbed them of their senses like that, and a huge part of her ached that her first time with Clark was just gone from her mind. It hurt worse because she still wasn't sure if the magic in their systems had done anything to affect Jonathan. She knew her pregnancy with him had been twice as long as hers with Lily or Lex's with Mori, that he was different already from his sisters. Chloe was still scared, even almost nineteen years later, about exactly what that meant.

However, looking up into her son's eyes was an odd experience. He looked the most like Clark of all the kids, Conner included. He was almost as tall as his father, and about as broad already. He had the same dark hair and quiet, gentle eyes. There were differences, of course, but somehow it all served to dig in worse that Jonathan denying his Kryptonian side was really spitting in his father's face.

Sighing, Chloe shoved these feelings aside, and smiled more broadly for her boy. "I'm starving, and I've had a terrible time. So you are treating me to ravioli."

"I only have a student job," he objected.

"You took your sweet time getting over here, admit it, Jonathan," she chided, standing up and gathering her purse.

"Sure, mo…uh, Chloe," he eyed her and she shrugged. She certainly wasn't going to take it as a slight since the other option would just make people far too suspicious about his family. "Then we'll go to the place off campus, Pazoli's, since they're cheap."

"Do they have a health grade?"

"A C's a grade," he amended, grinning at her.

They were both to the threshold of the door when that idiot frat boy shouted out to both of them:

"Hey, Kent, next time you have a girl visit you, make her worth the time. I mean, who gets married at eighteen anyway?"

She turned and glared back at the Neanderthal. "You're so lucky," she said.

"Why?"

"Because you have no idea what you missed out on."

With that, she yanked her son out of there before he could set the whole damn room on fire. Rushing him to his dorm she grabbed his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door in record time, then shoved him inside. Chloe locked everything back and rushed to the small sink in his room and prepared a cool washcloth. Bringing it to his face, she frowned at how warm he was and noted the steam pouring off of him from the contact with the cloth.

Jonathan had his eyes clamped shut and was breathing in panicked, shallow gasps. 

Reaching out, she put her other hand on the back of his neck. " _A stor_ , you need to keep breathing, honey."

"My eyes, ugh. I haven't…"

She nodded even if he couldn't see it. "I know when you got this, you and your Dad had to practice a lot, but sometimes anger triggers it too. It's okay, sweetheart, just breathe and let it go."

"I'm going to burn down the dorm!"

Chloe took a deep breath of her own. First Clark, then Conner and now her own children. She'd worked with panicked Kryptonians more than any person alive, except Martha. It didn't faze her. "No, you're not. Jonathan Bartholomew, you need to listen to me. Just listen to my heartbeat and breathe like I do. In, out. In, out."

"Mom!"

"Now, _a stor_."

He was still shaking a little but did as she said and, after what felt like forever, the steam stopped seeping from the cloth, and she was able to pull it away. The eyes blinking back her finally were moss green and not the amber of heat vision. Chloe grinned and hugged her son tightly.

"See, you did just fine."

He scowled at her and sat on his bed. "I didn't mean to do that. I haven't even used that…it's been since tenth grade. I'm really sorry, mom. He was just such an ass to you and I got so mad."

Chloe nodded and patted his knee. "Your father and Conner can work more with you on that. It's okay. We can get you more control. Ironically, the more you practice with your abilities, the more you can control them."

"But they usually don't flare up," he said, grimacing a little. "I mean there's the floating but that's usually it. I'm such a freak."

She kept her smile calm and pleasing even though all of this broke her heart, both for Jonathan who had never asked for any of this burden, and for Clark, who had accepted his lot long ago and was so sad that Jonathan couldn't. At least not now.

"You're not. You're a very normal Kent or, as it is now, Luthor. Your sisters will have to learn to deal with this. Your father and Conner and even your Aunt Kara all had to deal with it too. It's just what it is."

Jonathan nodded and swiped at his eyes. His voice wobbled as he spoke. "I don't want to be this way, Mom. I just…I hate it. I just want it to stop."

"And you have a few more tweaks to your vision and the breath, and one day you'll probably fly if you try. Conner could by twenty. So you might end up doing better than your dad there, but extra practice and then everything will be okay."

He nodded and squeezed her hand back. "I…don't tell, Dad, that I said that last part. I mean it but I don't want him to be sad. I just want some control, that's all, Mom, I swear."

She sighed and accepted the touch. "I know, now let's get some food in you, you'll feel better and you can come over on Sunday and work on your abilities again. It'll give Conner time to clear his case schedule to help, alright?"

"Thanks…I, what was that guy so hopped up about anyway?"

Chloe blushed. Had her son been that dense? No, wait, scratch that, Clark was definitely that dense and Jonathan lacked finesse with women about as badly. Oh God.

"He hit on me. I tried to give him the hint," she said, gesturing to her ring. "But he wasn't easily persuaded. I think he was just mad that I said no."

"Wait, why?" 

She snorted. "Thanks Jonathan, I appreciate that."

"No, you're pretty, I guess, but Mom you're old!"

Chloe rolled her eyes. God help her. "Honey, well, you know I don't look it."

"Huh?"

"He thought I was a freshman."

"Oh God! He was hitting on my mom."

"Yes, thank you for catching up. I…I'm so sorry. I forget and I didn't even realize that…I feel my age, and I forget when I'm not at the Planet and faking it, that no one else sees me as I actually am. I apologize for making things weird."

Jonathan sighed and stood up, not giving her a second glance. "It's okay. Compared to me and heat vision malfunction, my mom the modern day Dorian Grey isn't as big a deal."

"Honey-"

"Let's just eat, I'm hungry."

Lex dared to finally poke his head into Chloe's study at the mansion after she'd finished her impressive fifteen minute tirade. He'd heard many colorful curses in his life and in many languages, including Kryptonian, but he'd never quite heard the foul language explosion that Sullivan had managed behind closed doors. It was a great thing that Mori and Lily were out playing tag near the greenhouse with Clark because they'd have learned a host of new words by now. He needed to talk to his lover. Chloe might have worked in a bull pen for over twenty-five years but she needed not to talk like that around the girls.

He knocked and waited patiently until she pulled the door open. Dangerous green eyes glittered back at him.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Well, to be honest, neither am I. I don't want to be eviscerated by you, Sullivan, but you seemed like you might be angry about something and I thought a kind ear might help."

She bit her lower lip, considering his offer. Lex shook his head and then leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I could get Clark, if you rather. I know he's the family favorite."

No he was neither jealous nor insecure, don't imply that.

Chloe kissed him back and patted his shoulder. "Oh, please. You all have different skill sets."

Lex grinned lasciviously back at her. "I'll say."

"Not in that way."

"Then?"

"You're a plotter and Clark's a hugger. I mean, you and I will plan revenge scenarios together and Clark would just let me get gelato and cry."

"Which would you like?"

"Come in here, I need an evil genius to talk me down."

He frowned but stepped into her study and sat down on the sofa. "I'm all ears."

"Jonathan doesn't want me to visit him on campus anymore."

Lex considered that. He knew that Chloe's surprise drop by campus had ended up leading to a fight of some kind between Jonathan and a guy in his dorm. That had escalated into a heat vision 911. While he'd spent the weekend practicing it with Clark and his brother (for lack of a better word to describe Conner), neither he nor Chloe had given all the specifics. That was three weeks ago, and Lex assumed things were most smoothed over.

He'd been wrong.

"May I ask why? And, for that matter, what really happened to you that day?"

Chloe sighed and sat down on his lap. He expected as much. Sullivan was extremely tactile. Frankly, so was Clark. He never had been because that wasn't something that Luthors did. However, it amused him to have two lovers who were so in need of constant reassurance through touch. It was probably one of the things he'd understood the least about both of them throughout the years, well, when he relived the memories of his first life. Chloe and Clark had always hung off each other, a million hugs or brushes of hair off shoulders. They were so oddly intimate with each other even as kids that Lex was genuinely baffled how anyone from Lana to Oliver had come between them for even a moment.

"One of the kids at his dorm asked me out."

"Do I need to worry?"

"No, of course not. I have more than I can handle."

He snickered despite Chloe's mood. "Your plan and you asked for it."

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "True, but I never thought you'd both be needy 24/7. I do not need to channel my inner cougar, thanks."

"Fine, then he hit on you, and Jonathan was angry. I don't understand exactly why he won't let you visit."

"He actually doesn't want _any_ of us to come because he says it causes too many problems. He can't explain you, period."

"I can. You and Clark just can't resist me."

"True, but he also was upset because he can't explain to people who Clark and I are."

"Well, no, I assumed last time you weren't advertising you were his mother. No one would believe you."

She nodded and burrowed into him. "I didn't, but he's very embarrassed people hit on me since I shouldn't look twenty. I don't care."

"Of course you do."

"It's smarter not to. We do best keeping questions about the whole Sullivan-Kent-Luthor cabal to a minimum."

"Because the League's resources and my own couldn't protect the lot of you."

"All of _us_ ," she emphasized kissing his cheek. "The point is that I just don't know how to tell Clark. It'll hurt his feelings worse. Jonathan's already on a 'be normal' kick, and now that Clark can't come by and go to a Bulldogs game with him or something because of the age issue, well, Clark worries."

"You worry and I worry and all of us worry. You mean that Clark will blame himself and his gifts."

Chloe shrugged. "I don't age either. Jonathan has it twice over, so he was always going to have to deal with it for himself. We'll tell Clark this weekend. I just want those types of hits to him to stop coming."

"Jonathan will adjust one day to his heritage. Conner had epic mopes when we first started bonding about his petri dish nature."

"True."

"It will come, Sullivan, but I agree we tell Clark as delicately as we can. I don't relish dealing with a mope from him either or him locking himself off at the Fortress or the loft to deal with it."

"Or not deal," she said, sighing. "Are we selfish? I mean, Conner was a done deal and even you can't understand what was going through your original version's head. I mean, we never blamed you."

"Clark and Sis did for quite a while."

"Fine, but you know what I mean. Conner was here and Jonathan was something I can't live without but who Zatanna had a direct hand in. Granted, Mori was a surprise."

Lex rubbed his hips. Even with his healing, he still had stretch marks. "Tell me about it."

"Should we not have had Lily? Knowing how hard it is for all of them, Clark too, should we just never have done more than we already did blindly?"

He sighed and kissed the top of her head and then pointed to the window. There were three blurs on the horizon and he wondered when the girls and Clark would ever tire out for dinner. Chef was making fish and it never tasted good cold.

"They're supposed to be here, and Jonathan we'll figure it out or…"

"Or?"

"We'll put together another brilliant and marginally evil scheme to get through to him. We're good at that, aren't we, Sullivan?"

Chloe perked up and chuckled out at the lawn where Clark, visible for once and not moving too fast, had one girl under each arm and was spinning them around. "It was a good choice, wasn't it?"

"The best." Lex finished, sure of that more than of anything else in his life.


End file.
